This weekend was a productive one, started with Pip building a case (pardon the pun) for dusting off a manuscript that disappeared into the sunset back in 2009. It has been, of all of my works, the most requested of my works for a sequel.
It was a pretty intense conversation between Pip and myself…
PIP: Tee, I really want to get Billi out in a digital format.
ME: Okay.
PIP: *blink-blink* Um…okay….
Yeah, pretty gripping, I know.
So now, after two years of being out of print, Imagine That! Studios as part of EXPERIMENT 2012 brings you…
 
I did say last year that I believed I would return to this alternative Chicago where a dwarf detective would stand toe-to-toe with Al Capone, and now it is happening. The story is still the same. We just have the book in new formats now. Kindle? Nook? Kobo? Yeah, we got you covered.
Why now? I was asked by Myke Cole in a recent roundtable discussion on John Mireau’s Serving Worlds podcast when you know it’s time to release a title on your own. Could it have anything to do with this rakish gent?
As much of a raging fan as I am of Peter Dinklage and his performance in Game of Thrones (the second season looming closer and closer with each day), the decision to bring back Billi is more in response to my novella, Aladdin and His Wonderfully Infernal Device. I’ve been watching the numbers since it’s recent release, and they have been promising. Very promising. My issue has always time. Between 2009 and 2011, my focus has been on the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences. Phoenix Rising, releasing the first volume of Tales From the Archives in digital formats, and the follow-up The Janus Affair. While holding a full time job, that was all the time I had to commit.
Then, things changed.
The time just felt right to give this award-winner some attention, so this weekend I did just that. When Pip mentioned what we were working on, the big question I got all weekend was “Does this mean more Billi is coming?” It’s an easy answer: It all depends on how both The Case of the Singing Sword and The Case of the Pitcher’s Pendant perform. The Ministry has to come first, as you can imagine. If the Billibub Baddings Mysteries take off, though, then I have more time to make future installments happen.
And if you see J. Daniel Sawyer anytime soon, you might want to thank him for helping make Billi’s re-release happen as he solved for me a rather heavy commitment I make in this first case.
For all who have asked me about Billi’s return, you also helped make this happen. I hope he’s worth the wait.
Okay…just one more moment with the Emmy-winner. I just know he is my Billi Baddings.